A Twin Cities man is using his love for hockey and an idea that he had this earlier year to launch a new business just outside the doors of the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Noah Beer, 26, owns and operates Tarps Off Jersey Rental. His business lets people rent and wear one of the 172 Minnesota Wild jerseys that he currently has in his inventory to Wild home games.
The idea came to Beer earlier this year after a few friends asked to borrow a jersey for home playoff games.
"I had no issue as long as they didn't stain them and they returned them to me," Beer said.
From that moment Beer said he thought about the number of people who asked to borrow a jersey and thought his business idea could help Wild fans of all interest levels.
"I think jerseys through Fanatics are around $210 at the lowest price and there are a lot of fans that attend one or two games a year, or aren't fans of the game and win tickets through work, an event, or have a friend that invites them out," Beer told WCCO Radio's Mark Freie. "They don't have any reason to own a jersey. There's no reason to own these expensive jerseys when players could be changing teams at a GM's discretion."
Beer's website makes renting a jersey a smooth and simple process. Renters simply select what jersey and size they want, what home game they're attending, and then they make the $20 payment.
The jerseys can be picked up just outside the Xcel Energy Center at 184 7th St W up to two hours before the selected Wild game. Renters then return the jerseys immediately after the game at the same location that they received them.
Jerseys can also be rented in-person ahead of the game.
"I've kind of just been doing a pop-up shop out of my pick-up truck and that about 100 jerseys fit pretty well in there. I don't think I could fit all 172 in there."
Beer, who attended Prior Lake High School and played hockey there, plans to stick to renting out Wild jerseys for the time being, but adds knows there could be an opportunity or two to expand.
"Hockey's been my favorite sport. I started when I was five years old, played in high school, and played club hockey at the University of St Thomas. I have plans to do baseball jersey rental in the spring. I won't get into basketball this winter just because I feel like I've already got enough on my plate. I'm figuring out flaws in my system that I have to adjust for every game. I've weighed the option of NFL, but with only eight home games a year, I don't know if there's the market to make enough money."